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Doctoral Studies

Centrale Paris’s doctoral program: Excellence in training, through and for research

As part of its mission to provide training for and through research, Centrale Paris’s doctoral programme prepares students for careers in research and development, in both the public and private sectors. With over 250 doctoral students this year, the School demonstrates its strong dynamism and shows that its gamble on this type of training maintains all its appeal amongst young engineers.
Since 1986, Centrale Paris has been accredited to confer the doctoral degree in the framework of its doctoral program, ‘Science for the Engineer’. The program relies primarily on School's 8 research departments, on the LISMMA at SUPMECA, the LM2O at the École Centrale at Lille and on several host laboratories at the CEA, the ONERA, etc., operating in close contact with companies, both manufacturing and services. Roughly fifty theses are defended each year, half of which are funded by a company or a major research organism within the framework of a research contract.
Doctoral students come from many horizons: 15% of them from the School, but 60% of them enrol with a French or foreign engineering degree and 40% are international students.
Centrale Paris’s doctoral programme is resolutely committed to professional training, providing its doctoral students with all the skills they need to succeed in their professional careers in the fields of innovation, research and development. About 50% of Doctors from the School are hired by the private sector immediately after their thesis, half of them in R&D services, half in other company functions, thus confirming the opening of the Doctoral School to the world of business.

A steadily growing doctoral program

Parallel to their research activity, Centrale Paris’s laboratories also play an important role in the institution’s teaching programmes, which provide training through and for research. This is reflected in their involvement in projects for the engineering programme, as well as in thesis preparation in the ‘Science for Engineers’ doctoral programme
Over the last few years, a major effort has been made to build up the professional training in the doctoral programme, so as to provide a training programme that prepares future Centrale Paris PhDs for their future careers.
Between 2004 and 2011, the number of Doctoral School students increased from 180 to 250, with an even greater growth in the number of Centralians enrolled for a thesis.